Opinion Article by Peter Greenhalgh, GBR 609
We’re less than a month away from the UK Nationals, which is very exciting considering it’s my first proper event of the year in any boat and normally I would have done 8 regattas by now.
Andy Tarboton and I have been able to continue our MUSTO training together and have now had some opportunities to compare with the rest of the fleet. We organised a small training event in the middle of the Solent – I’m sure some of you got to see the report. Five races back-to-back with a good calibre of sailor showed that Andy and I had definitely made some improvements. However, I wasn’t happy with my pace upwind in the breeze. I had lost a few kilos in body weight and recently changed my mast and had unintentionally tuned a little straighter than I should have. This meant as the breeze built I was struggling for speed.
Post the event, I knew exactly what I needed to do to make the boat go faster and only a few days later I was able to line up with Andy in 15+ knots and, sure enough, I had found some more upwind speed. Again, this has been helped with Andy adopting the speed puck and is now more consistently mode changing and we have easy references in actual numbers.
Andy and I have continued to work on our weaknesses, pushing each other really hard and often having a laugh / gasp of frustration as we race round a course and find ourselves only metres apart the whole time.
I’m constantly breaking down my processes in my manoeuvres to see if they can be refined: rate of turn, mainsheet trim, body movement, consistency under pressure, heel angle, trapezing height, and boat trim.
The areas that I need to improve on now are light wind gybes and medium wind tacks, slow speed manoeuvring and light wind speed. Aspects that I have been working on and developing to improve my MUSTO sailing performance include:
- Spinnaker sheet take up that requires zero kite sheet management: it’s surprising how much you loose head down faffing with tidying the kite sheets
- Mainsheet system that is minimal and easily identifiable to which rope you pull (if you have it attached to your harness you will understand)
- Tacking sticks: getting them the right length and then height and getting used to using them
- Rudder system: reducing the play in gasket, pin and tiller
- Calibration on Cunningham/ outhaul
- Tuning guide: recording good and BAD numbers with explanations. Trying to understand what makes the boat accelerate well, what gives you the best height and fast forward mode, and then finding a compromise that works for all
- Kite halyard take up and down haul perfect length
- Main halyard that gives minimum stretch: helps me to get under the boom
- I moved control lines so they are more ergonomic to use
- I refined compass and speed puck positions so they are easily viewed (and no matter how much you wrap the kite around them they don’t foul it!)
- Batten tensions
- And finally – physical capabilities! Really just trying not to snap myself
A few lessons were learnt along the way. For example, if you are over powered then the easy controls to use are board height, Cunningham, and outhaul (lots seem to ignore this). For me, I want a set up that works with nearly full board all the time (personal choice) so if I’m having to think about adjusting these 3 controls out of the range I’m happy in (i.e. lift board more than 50mm or pull Cunningham to my number 7) then I know I need to do more adjustments to the rig to make it basically bend more and give me a flatter set up.
Like all of us out there, I’m always looking for more speed up and downwind. I also believe people neglect downwind boat speed and always believe it’s about upwind. However, I think the biggest gains and losses come from downwind in this type of boat!
With lots to work on and try out, I have been managing 2 or 3 days a week – Andy normally manages at least 1 more than me. There has been a continual improvement, which has made it all the more fun!
Dave Hivey and Sam Pascoe also ran an impromptu training event in Weymouth a couple of weeks ago, and we managed 6 races. It didn’t attract the big hitters like Bruce Keen and George Hand, but nevertheless it was competitive.
I finally managed to win my first ever MUSTO Skiff race! It also became apparent that my speed and handling had improved again, which was very reassuring.
Yet again, I came away with some important areas to improve: tacking, getting rid of the windward boat early so you have tacking options, light wind pace still – to name but a few.
Knowing that Andy is particularly good in the light I was more than happy to have him as my training partner and to reinforce that he had been racing at Stokes Bay a little and dialling in with that fleet – including racing against Bruce and beating him (I couldn’t resist putting that in there).
So, this last week or so has been fine tuning, massive taking duels, etc. As I get to grips with the MUSTO, Ovington Boats has been massively supportive; getting me replacement parts post my learning accidents along the way!
With just weeks to go, I am still committed to the training and I am hoping to get a 3rd impromptu training event in before the end of the month. I look forward to putting everything into practice at the Nationals in a couple of weeks and seeing if it’s all paid off!
Photo: MUSTO Skiff World Championship 2019 © Femke de Vries Fotografie
